Let Me Stay Here
by 3R15UK0UM31
Summary: "Shhh …Just let me listen a little…Let me stay here a little while " Alice couldn't find it in her to object, not when he sounded like that. She'd wanted to read, she'd wanted to rest, she had work in a couple of time periods and no more breaks for a while. But somehow, with him, she couldn't help but do what he asked her to in the end. (AcexAlice)


**I'm not that great at this stuff but I tried. Another fic for a friend. Hopefully you all can get something out of it too. ^^**

**I own nothing - all characters, places, etc. belong to QuinRose. Go to your local bookstore and throw your money at them so they can keep giving us beautiful things.**

**Enjoy~**

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After several time periods of work, a nice, long bath felt quite good…even if the bathwater always managed to be slightly pink and filled with rose petals. Seeing as this was Vivaldi's castle, it wasn't honestly that surprising. And once you got used to the scent it wasn't too unpleasant; nicely sweet, in fact, and clean-smelling, if a bit strong.

With the warm aroma of roses wafting around her bath-softened skin and wet hair, Alice's bare feet carried her down the immense hallway back towards her room. She'd read a little bit, just to see if the time changed to night; if it didn't, she would just draw the curtains and sleep anyways. She was pretty tired, and she wasn't about to let her rest periods go to waste.

It took her a moment to notice the presence of the intruder in her room, as he was being unusually quiet and still. But she did catch sight of him, and her towel slipped from her hands just as she was about to hang it up. "A-Ace?! What are _you_ doing in here?"

There was silence for a moment as the knight slipped a bookmark into whatever it was he was reading and glanced over at her. His usual bright red coat wasn't around his shoulders, nor was it anywhere to be seen; currently he was lying on his back on her bed, and he stared at her upside-down, short locks hanging towards the floor. "Haha, when you say it that way, it sounds like you were expecting someone else~! We're lovers, right? It's natural for me to want to see you~"

Her cheeks colored slightly at the word 'lovers', but she was not about to be beaten. "How did you even find my room?" He couldn't find his _own _room, not to mention those of others.

"Luck? Or maybe the power of love~!" He began to laugh but abruptly cut himself off, pulling a face. "…That sounds like something Peter-san would say, hm…Feels a little gross~"

With a quiet sigh, Alice knelt to pick up the towel she had dropped and hang it on the hook she usually kept it on. She felt somehow…self-conscious in only her nightgown with Ace in the room, as illogical as it was. His comments weren't helping; in fact those comments were probably the only reason she was feeling self-conscious at all. "I'm tired, Ace…could you please move off my bed so I can rest?" She had been planning to read a bit, but honestly, getting the knight out of her room would probably eat up all her reading time…Oh well.

There was a quiet rustling as he sat up and brushed his hair back into some semblance of order. "There's plenty of room for both of us, just come lie with me~!"

"A-Ace!"

"What? I'm a chivalrous and pure knight…You can trust me~"

The outsider muttered something along the lines of 'about as far as I can throw you', but her dark comments went unheeded. In fact they quickly turned into a startled and rather unladylike cry as Ace snuck up behind her and whipped her feet out from under her (when had he even gotten up?!), catching her bridal style with a cheery laugh. Instinctively she clung to his shirtfront, still half-expecting to hit the tiled floor even with his strong arms under her, even with her body resting against his broad chest.

She met the knight's bright grin with a withering look, a lot of its power lost in the fact that she was still gripping his shirt. His eyes widened in mock innocence as he began to carry her over to the bed. "Eh? What's that face for~? You said you wanted to lie down, I'm saving you the trouble of walking~"

_Bullshit_, she thought, but couldn't find it in her to call him out. At least, not until she felt the hand that had been resting under her knee beginning to trail further up… Her blush from earlier returned full force, along with a sort of flustered anger. "Hey, Ace, where are you-?!"

She found herself being dumped rather unceremoniously onto the bed, the already-rumpled sheets becoming even more disheveled. The frame creaked a bit and the mattress dipped, and when Alice opened her eyes, she was greeted by a pair of crimson irises hovering much, much closer than they had been moments ago. Her face was on fire; was it even possible for her cheeks to get any redder?

He was straddling her hips, one hand pressing into the mattress near her head while the other brushed gently across her flaming cheek. In another odd moment of self-consciousness, she had the presence of mind to tug the skirt of her nightgown down a bit with the hand that was now trapped by her side. Even so it barely reached mid-thigh and he was so close…

"It sure doesn't take a lot to make you turn red…" His hands, she noticed belatedly, were bare. When had he taken his gloves off? Had he even been wearing them? The calloused fingers played with a wet, somewhat stringy strand of her rose-scented hair. "A perfect color for this place, hm~?"

Frustrated and flustered and very much not enjoying the feeling of her still dripping hair clumping up and sticking to the back of her neck and soaking the bedding beneath her, Alice looked away and huffed. "You know, for all your talk of being a 'chivalrous knight', what you're doing really doesn't seem pure at all…"

"Sometimes…you make it difficult…" The scent of roses coming from her heated skin seemed even stronger, caught in the close space between them. If it was difficult to look him in the eye before, now it was impossible, with his voice like that, and what he was saying… "But you'll forgive me a few transgressions, right~? We all have our…flaws, after all~"

Any words she might've said were swallowed up in a quiet gasp as she felt the soft touch of lips, hot even on the flushed skin of her throat, and a moment later a sharp, brief brush of teeth. The skin was left cold, chilled by the air as he moved on, heated kisses leaving small red marks like burns on her pale skin. She'd known it was coming, somehow, felt the skin of her neck tingling, waiting to be kissed, but the actual contact was _more_-

A particularly sensitive bit of her skin between his teeth was more than enough to draw a breathy sound of enjoyment from her throat unbidden, and she was instantly a bit ashamed of herself. Surely she could do a _bit _more to stop him; her hands rested flat against his chest but she couldn't decide if she really wanted to push him away or not. His lips continued to travel downwards. A lot more of her skin was exposed in her current attire, and he was going to take full advantage of it. He came to a stop over the hollow in her collarbone, teasing the skin with his teeth, his tongue. The sharp feeling of the bone just under the skin was fascinating to him; of course he also enjoyed drawing whatever small sounds he could from the outsider.

But in a moment of capriciousness, he decided that was enough for the time being. His kisses turned feather-light, dancing along the ridge of bone, right to left, like an acrobat along a balance bar. There he stopped, pausing just a moment to listen to the young woman's quickened breathing, watching the slight movements of her strengthened pulse. He turned his head and lowered his ear to her chest, just above her left breast, where he could hear the best. He felt Alice's hands shift, a bit awkwardly, to rest around his neck.

"Ace…"

"Shhh~…Just let me listen a little…"

Gradually, her pulse settled into a calmer rhythm, jumping like a startled bird when she took a breath and slowing as she let it out. Her fingers played absentmindedly with his hair and he took a deep breath, somewhat annoyed by the cloying rose covering up her natural scent. But it was fine, it could be overlooked… "Let me stay here a little while~"

Alice couldn't find it in her to object, not when he sounded like that. She'd wanted to read, she'd wanted to rest, she had work in a couple of time periods and no more breaks for a while. But somehow, with him, she couldn't help but do what he asked her to in the end.


End file.
